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slowdown-proxy-covid-19-changing-landscapes·dataset

Where Car Traffic Dropped During COVID-19

Slowdown Proxy Maps
land NASA VEDA COG
In plain English

What it measures. A map highlighting places where road and car activity fell the most, with darker blue shading marking the biggest drops. It was used to visualize how movement slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How it's made. Built from satellite observations of changing activity on the landscape, compared against earlier baseline conditions.

How & where you'd use it. Helps researchers and reporters see how lockdowns reduced traffic and human activity across different areas.

What's measured

slowdownproxycovidchanginglandscapes

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2020-01-01 → 2020-12-31
  • Spatial extent-122.953, 33.712, 116.682, 51.424
  • FormatsCOG

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

Slowdown Proxy Maps show areas with the greatest reduction in car activity shaded in blue. Darker blues indicate areas of greater change.

Get the data

veda_access.py
# NASA VEDA — open STAC API, anonymous (cloud-optimized GeoTIFFs)
from pystac_client import Client

cat = Client.open("https://openveda.cloud/api/stac")
col = cat.get_collection("slowdown-proxy-covid-19-changing-landscapes")
items = list(col.get_items())          # browse the analysis-ready COGs
# open an asset with rioxarray:
# import rioxarray; da = rioxarray.open_rasterio(items[0].assets["cog_default"].href)
NASA VEDA is an open STAC catalog — browse and stream the cloud-optimized GeoTIFFs anonymously (no login).